New Frontiers in Sensitivity for EPR Spectroscopy: From Biological Cells to Nano Materials

DFG priority program

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) is a spectroscopic technique that allows detection of paramagnetic centres and magnetic nuclei coupled to them on a time scale as short as nanoseconds and with spatial resolution from the atomic up to the nanometer scale. Recent progress in this technique has been mainly driven by specific needs in the research areas of biological and materials science. The priority program aims at bringing these research areas together in a coordinated effort in order to increase the sensitivity of EPR as an essential spectroscopic technique for biology, chemistry, materials science, and physics.

As a major goal, new application fields shall be opened up by EPR such as the investigation of megadalton molecular machines, in cell protein-protein interactions or enzymatic mechanisms, catalytic processes on single-crystalline surfaces, or the light-induced degradation of thin-film solar cells. The intrinsic diversity of the studied systems implies that the envisaged sensitivity enhancement does not only rely on advances on the side of EPR hardware but also involves alternative polarisation and detection schemes and the adaptation of the method to “real world” samples.

The program encompasses collaborative projects that focus on four major research areas. The first two comprehend methods to increase the sensitivity of EPR experiments:

1) methods for improved excitation and manipulation of electron spin magnetisation and 2) methods for improved EPR detection. The third and fourth areas explore the applicability of these methods in fields of biological and materials sciences, which are not amenable to EPR spectroscopy at the current state-of-the-art. The synergy between the methodological work, on the one side, and application-oriented research on the other side, will be progressively established.

Accommodation

Your accommodation are in the guest quarters of Frauenwörth abbey. For further information please check the abbey’s homepage.

Registration

Venue

By plane
F.-J. Strauss airport Munich
Please make sure not to schedule your arrival at the aiport later than 4 pm or have your plane depart before 11 am because of the 2 hours transfer to the Women’s Island
Take S1 or S8 to Munich, Ostbahnhof then change to Prien
By train
There are trains to Prien either go via Munich or Rosenheim.
At Prien
From Prien train station either take the bus or walk about 20 min to Prien/Stock port. The ferry from Prien to Fraueninsel takesabout 25-35 min.